


Blue Days

by Steangine



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, What if?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 20:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5942650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Kuroko enrolled in Meikou Middle School instead of Teikou?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue Days

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this two years ago for the otp battle of the basketball poet society on tumblr. Reading my old works is making me want to change my style and make it a bit simpler than the current one. I only checked major mistakes and didn't change anything.

Aomine couldn’t remember the days when playing basketball was fun. Rejoicing by hearing the sound of the ball that bounced on the court, the opponents who actually tried to stop him instead of letting him go and showing him their unbearable resigned expressions.

Not only playing, everything about basketball served to annoy Aomine, even watching someone else enjoying the game.

“Kuroko, you almost did it!”

They were slow, their movements predictable, they didn’t even manage to throw the ball into the basket with every attempt. Aomine could have beaten them in no time. However those two guys playing on the street court seemed happy even though they failed. Especially the shorter one, he was a disaster on the basics and could do hardly anything against his friend.

They were so stupid to keep playing in the dark with only the street lights to accompany them.

“You just need to do more like this.” The taller one shot and managed to make a three pointer. “Got it?”

“Ogiwara-kun, you need to sharpen your teaching skills.”

“That’s a kind way to tell me I suck at teaching?”

The Ogiwara guy started laughing and the other one simply smiled.

They were happy in their state of mediocrity. Aomine stared at them over the metal web, which enclosed the court, and he caught Kuroko’s sight.

“Do you want to play?”

The moment Ogiwara turned his head, Aomine had already started walking away.

“Who was that?”

“I’m not sure, but that resembled Teikou’s uniform.”

“He was tall.” Ogiwara took another shot. “Maybe he’s one of the Miracles.” He laughed. “Hey! We could have asked him to play with us!”

He was so fired up with the idea that he didn’t notice Kuroko had stolen the ball from his hands, and saw him trying to shot. It was a miss.

Ogiwara tilted his head. “Well… at least this time it was closer to the basket.”

“Ogiwara-kun, you are hopeless at comforting people.”

 

***

 

Every day Aomine took the habit to pass in front of that street court, glancing at it more often than once. He was staring at a group of students playing, and he hadn’t been aware of it until a voice surprised him from behind.

“Good afternoon.”

Aomine startled and looked around. He didn’t see anyone.

“I’m here.”

Once again he turned right; the shrimp who was unable to make a single shoot had suddenly appeared beside him. And his blank stare was a bit disturbing.

“Woah! Do you usually appear like that?!”

“I was here before you.”

“No way, I would’ve noticed it!”

“You hid your gravure magazine in a school notebook and you complained that this edition wasn’t the best of Horikita Mai.”

Aomine took a step behind. “What are you? A stalker?”

“I’m good at observing people.” The guy looked at the court. “And you are as loud as Ogiwara-kun. It would have been difficult to ignore you.”

Both of them observed the game on the court.

“The guy you were playing with the other evening?”

So he was similar to that cheerful and almost Kise look-a-like idiot. Yeah, surely. Aomine gave a conceited smile.

“I don’t know what kind of idea you have of me, but—” When Aomine turned towards him, the boy was gone. “… How did he…”

He had taken his eyes off of him for a minute and he managed to disappear just like that.

“Yes, you are quite similar to Ogiwara-kun.”

“Woah!” Aomine saw a popsicle in front of him, then the hand that was holding it and finally the expressionless shrimp. “And where did you get that?!”

“The grocery store on the other side of the street.”

“How did you…?”

That guy appeared and disappeared without a reason. And then…

“Is that for me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s good to eat popsicles together.”

Aomine looked unsure. This situation made no sense, that shrimp made no sense. Nothing about him did.

“I don’t even know you!”

“It’s quite rude of you asking my name without telling me yours first.”

He sure knew how to piss him off.

“Tch. Aomine Daiki.”

“My name is Kuroko Tetsuya. Pleased to meet you.”

Blank stare, expressionless face and two popsicles in his hands. Aomine, despite the uneasiness that Kuroko gave him, decided to take one.

“Good afternoon.”

“Ah, you are here! Do you want to play?”

“Ogiwara-kun, you should introduce yourself first.”

One who got excited too easily, one who seemed to be unaffected by anything.

“Oh, yeah. I’m Ogiwa—”

Aomine yawned. “I’m not playing with you. Basketball’s boring.”

Ogiwara looked confused. “If you think it’s boring, why do you keep playing?”

A simple question with no answer. No, Aomine knew the answer, but he was too proud and stubborn to admit it even to himself.

“They keep pestering me to play. But we’re going to win the championship anyway, so it’s not that interesting.”

Kuroko and Ogiwara looked at each other.

“Ogiwara-kun, please help me refine my shoots.”

Refine. Aomine didn’t hide a sarcastic smile while those two started that so called training; but for him it was just a waste of time.

Ogiwara was unable to teach. Kuroko was unable to shoot.

“Kuroko, no way! With your arm you should be more like…” Ogiwara made a strange wave with his right arm. “…this. Got it?”

“… No. Ogiwara-kun, you’re not explaining yourself properly.”

“How can you say such mean things with that plain expression?!”

At Kuroko’s sixth attempt to shoot, Aomine still couldn’t believe that such a hopeless player existed.

“You should quit playing.”

His voice, strong and firm, caught both their attention.

“No, thank you. We both like playing basketball.”

“I was talking about you. Your skills are awful, you can’t even make a single basket.”

And that was getting on his nerves. It was because of weaklings like him that playing basketball had become a boring routine that tormented him every day. It seemed as if Kuroko wasn’t putting any effort in learning a simple shot.

“I like playing basketball. Moreover, my style is—”

Ogiwara interrupted Kuroko, “Maybe you can teach him. I’m aware of the fact that I can’t teach very well.”  He smiled.

“I have better things to do than wasting my time with you.” Aomine stood up from the bench.

Kuroko turned his back at Aomine, a bit annoyed. “Ogiwara-kun, please don’t speak for me. I don’t want to be taught by someone who doesn’t like basketball.”

“My bad, sorry Kuroko.”

Ogiwara took the ball and dribbled playfully towards Kuroko. “Too slow!” He laughed and pointed at the basket. He raised his arms, his eyes fixed on the ring, but when he was about to jump, he felt the ball was missing from his hands.

Aomine had snatched it so fast he could only see him running on the other side of the court and scoring without any difficulty.

“Woah, so fast!” He was both surprised and in awe.

“You’re too predictable.”

Nothing new. Another idiot who enjoyed playing basketball with such poor skills. He was bored, he was envious of his candid attitude towards basketball. Playing in order to enjoy the efforts made to win, those efforts that Aomine couldn’t remember anymore.

“Are you in a basketball club?”

Ogiwara nodded. “Yes.”

“Mpf. Let me tell you one thing. You will neve—”

He couldn’t finish talking. The ball, resting in his right hand, was knocked away by a sudden hit. Aomine couldn’t react in time and Ogiwara managed to make a three-pointer.

“Nice one, Kuroko!”

Kuroko appeared from nowhere.

…was that the sensation of the ball being stolen away? He couldn’t remember.

 

***

 

Aomine glanced at the light blue hair in front of him.

“Why are you stalking me!?”

Kuroko raised his eyes from the basketball magazine. “I was there before you.”

“You have already used this line before!”

“Please don’t be too noisy here.”

“Tch… uh? Is it the new one?”

Aomine took the magazine from Kuroko and leafed through the pages without interest. He eyed a photo of one of their last games, but passed over it and ended up closing the mag and tossing it into Kuroko’s hands.

“Next time, you should ask before borrowing something.” While talking, Kuroko snapped a bit his lips. “You have always that bored look, even when you are playing. Lately the articles about Teikou aren’t so interesting.”

“Should I be sorry? You’re the ones to blame, since none of our opponents can entertain us.”

“I play basketball to enjoy myself, not to entertain you.”

“Good words for the weaklings. I also wasted my time with you and your friend. Even though I trashed you, he still had something to complain.”

“That happened because Ogiwara-kun didn’t know the coach forbade me from using my skill. I still have to perfect it.”

Aomine couldn’t stop himself from snorting skeptically. “You can invent whatever you want. The only one who can beat me is me.”

Kuroko smiled. “In order to win the championship, we must defeat Teikou, not you.”

They stared at each other. Aomine couldn’t figure out what was in that shrimp’s mind through his blank eyes, but his words were too clichéd to cheer up someone who couldn’t even stand on the court properly.

“Whatever…”

Once again that boy made him waste his time. He didn’t know a thing about his skill, and neither did he want to know, but Aomine was sure that he was a specialist at bothering other people. So, where were the gravure magazines in that shop?

“And talking about beating you, I managed to steal your ball and I’m quite sure I’ll manage to do it again on the court.”

Kuroko prevented him from going away with those simple words. It wasn’t the sentence itself, but the confidence in his voice that made Aomine turn around, ready to reply.

But he didn’t.

Kuroko’s eyes were sparkling with the urge of playing basketball. Aomine had seen that look many times, when his opponents still had tried to stop him, when his companions still had made real efforts to achieve victory.

“You’re so… naive. You will never make it to the finals. And even if you can, you will never steal a single ball against us.” It was a matter of fact that Teikou would play at the finals. “You were just lucky last time.”

“I’ll show you I can do it.”

He was resolute. And stubborn.

Aomine didn’t believe his behavior. He was sure that Kuroko would have done as all the players that faced the Generation of Miracles: sinking in desperation minute after minute until the game would become a desperate struggle against reality.

“Do whatever you want.”

Once again, Kuroko stopped Aomine before he could leave.

“If you are so sure I will never manage to steal a ball from the Generation of Miracles, let’s make a bet.”

“Not interested.”

“You’ll buy me a vanilla shake for each steal. If I can’t make even one, I’ll buy every gravure magazine you want.” Kuroko turned back to his plain and disturbing expression.

Aomine thought he had already won, even if would have took still some months to the Championship. And why should he had to avoid a free gravure magazine of Horikita Mai?

“Save your money, I’ll take the chance to get Horikita Mai’s Collection Edition.”

 

***

“Goodbye Collection Edition.”

It was a simple whisper, but Kise was close enough to hear it.

“What’s wrong, Aominecchi?”

“Kise, you idiot! You should have paid more attention to that shrimp!”

“So mean! You are the one who let the ball pass through!”

“And you were in charge of marking him!”

“Enough.”

With a simple word, Akashi put an end to their quarrel. His face was tense and his troubled expression was sufficient to make the team understand that they needed to focus more on the match.

“Ryouta.” Kise startled. “Daiki is right. You should block number 11 with all your might. Don’t underestimate him just because he is slower than you. He entered in the second quarter, so he should have more stamina than us.”

“Roger that!” Kise’s voice trembled a bit. It wasn’t like he hadn’t try to mark that weak-look-a-like, but by the time he had just blinked, the number 11 disappeared from his sight. “Why is everyone so mean to me?!”

Akashi sighed, “Daiki, look at the ball more carefully and put more energy on the game.”

Aomine faced his cold glare and simply nodded. “Yes, yes.”

He would have never imagined that Kuroko could disappear like that on the court, it was beyond his imagination. During the match he suddenly popped out of nowhere and stole the ball every fucking time. It was annoying. So annoying that Aomine couldn’t help but smile.

“Alright…” The game started again and Aomine jostled Kise away. “Kise, out of my way.”

“Aominecchi! What are you doing?!”

Aomine grinned, Kuroko was just in front of him and he would have never let him go away as that idiot Kise did, “You won’t pass, Kuroko.”

He didn’t reply, but simple stared at him.

“You are really someone. Still the poker face even during a match!”

Aomine seemed pleased.

Midorima made a three pointer and suddenly Ogiwara, outside the court for the throw-in, looked for Kuroko. Aomine, caught the silent sign between the teammates, cut off Kuroko’s way and showed him a triumphant expression

“You won’t get the ball anymo—WHAT?!”

A single blink and when he opened his eyes Kuroko had disappeared from his sight. By the time Aomine looked around, he saw the ball entering the basket: two more points for Meikou.

During the break, everyone felt a slight tension. The score gap was big enough to be sure they would win the third consecutive championship, but on the other hand they had a hard time dealing with Meikou’s number 11.

“See? Even Aominecchi couldn’t stop him.”

Kise marked the point for a personal defense, but his words got on Murasakibara’s nerves; his terrifying look scared a second year who avoided lending him a towel, and Atsushi unloaded his frustration by kicking a bench.

“I can’t bear that midget.”

“Atsushi, calm down.” Akashi’s voice was firm, “We are doing well, but this is something we’ve never faced before. Momoi? Have you observed the number 11?”

Momoi nodded. “Well, I tried, but I’ve only made some assumptions. Nothing sure.”

“Better than nothing.”

The tension, the worry, the sensation of having something out of control.

Aomine snorted. “Who the hell cares?” He took a sip from the water bottle. “Man, these ten minutes are endless…” No one paid much attention to him, since he never refrained from complaining about the boredom of a basketball match.

Yet Akashi and Momoi managed to notice the impatience in his eyes.

 

***  
  


When Kuroko woke up he managed to distinguish Ogiwara’s blurry profile, but suddenly he wondered why he was lying in a hospital bed.

“Did we win?” His voice was faint.

Ogiwara startled and he tried to jump on Kuroko to hug him, but the captain stopped him and made him sit down on the chair.

“Kuroko, are you okay? Do you remember me?!”

“Shige, I don’t think he lost his memory. He asked about the match.”

“Can you move your body?!”

“The doctor said his body is alright.”

“And—”

“Shige!” the captain scolded him, “You’re stressing him and he needs to rest.”

The moment Kuroko frowned he felt a sharp pain on the head. “What happened?”

He remembered few things: they were playing against Teikou and Aomine seemed quite happy while marking him, when… something happened, because the last thing Kuroko saw, after he got free from Aomine, was the ball he wanted to reach, then everything turned black.

“The giant one from Teikou didn’t see you. Well, no one saw you until he fell on you…”

“I see… and the match?”

Ogiwara crossed his arms. “Kuroko, you are incredible! You almost died and you’re still thinking about basketball!”

The captain threw a hit on Ogiwara’s head. “He reminds me of someone I know.” he said in a sarcastic tone and Kuroko managed to smile.

“We lost, didn’t we?”

“Ah well… it was easy to guess, right?”

Ogiwara let out a forced laugh.

“It’s not that. You both look sad.”

Because of his misdirection he gradually became good at observing people and he had learned to read even the littlest reaction of his companions, thanks to the time they had spent together.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t play until the end.”

It seemed that Ogiwara had struck a nerve, because Kuroko stayed silent and stared at the ceiling with his eyes wide open.

“However, Teikou’s captain asked me if he can talk with you. I suppose they’re in a hurry to make their excuses.”

Kuroko hadn’t blinked once since Ogiwara had mentioned the fact he had played even less than twenty minutes in his last match with Meikou. “I think I’m not in the mood to recall the match right now.”

“You wouldn’t say, but Kuroko can be scary sometimes…” Even though they knew each other for years, Ogiwara still couldn’t comprehend Kuroko’s difficult behavior.

The captain sighed. “I can imagine how you are feeling right now, but I don’t think that Teikou’s captain will accept a rejection, he really imposed on me to ask you.”

“I don’t like him.” Ogiwara burst out with a sudden harsh voice. “He gave me chills on the court. Even his companions have awful eyes!”

“Be quiet, Shige.”

Kuroko smiled at Ogiwara troubled expression when the captain slapped him on the head. “If it’s just for few minutes, I suppose it’s okay.”

“Get rid of the cause, get rid of the symptom.”

Although Ogiwara wasn’t convinced, the captain let Akashi in. He was followed by the giant number 5 who had to recline his head to avoid hitting the door. In comparison, everyone in the room seemed smaller than they were.

“Do you feel better, Kuroko?” he addressed at him with his surname, but his manners were tainted by his clear presumption. “We are sorry to disturb you, but it would be difficult to find another chance to give you our apologies.”

Murasakibara hadn’t the expression of someone who was willing to apologize. He seemed pissed off and kept looking around with an annoyed expression.

“You didn’t have to, I really don’t mind.” But Ogiwara noticed that Kuroko, once again, hadn’t blinked since those two had entered.

“See? Now can we go, Aka-chin? I still have to eat my snacks.”

“Atsushi, you should apologize.”

Should, but it was a proper order, not a simple suggestion. Murasakibara gritted his teeth, his body was tense due to his clenched fists. However, after an evident internal struggle, he bowed his head slightly.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you.” He glared at Kuroko. “You’re too tiny to see, plus you piss me off.”

“WHA—?”

The captain stopped Ogiwara’s rage by hitting him. “Shut up.” he murmured.

Kuroko didn’t change his blank expression, he even blinked twice before replying. “I’m almost as tall as your captain. Does he piss you off, too?”

Both Ogiwara and the captain couldn’t choose between being scared of Murasakibara’s look—added to his not indifferent huge and dangerous-looking body—or laughing because of Kuroko’s words.

Akashi took the lead with a simple sentence. “I suppose you should rest now, we are taking our leave.”

Yet, Meikou’s captain couldn’t help but notice the eager look Akashi gave to Kuroko just before closing the door.

 

***

 

“Good afternoon.”

“Woah!” Together with Aomine, even some by-passers were startled. “You… always appear like that, don’t you?” He looked resigned.

“Are you looking for someone?”

“Let’s go play basketball at the street court.”

Kuroko tilted his head. “Is that your way of saying you were waiting for me?”

Still the blank stare. Aomine guessed it couldn’t be helped.

“Your noisy friend isn’t with you.”

“He went away.”

“Huh?”

“He transferred two weeks ago. His parents travel a lot for work.”

“I see. So, how long has it been since you played?”

They ended up having a one-on-one at the nearest street court. And, obviously, Aomine won so easily he almost got angry.

“You suck.”

“You knew you are stronger than me.”

“I don’t even know why I asked you to play.”

“Maybe you’re bored.”

“Huh.”

“I’ve already told you. You have a bored expression on your face and it doesn’t really make me want to play with you.”

“And why did you accept?”

“Because you came to my school.”

They observed each other.

“This discussion is going nowhere. What was that thing you did during the match?”

Aomine changed the topic so quickly that he managed to take Kuroko by surprise.

“That’s my basketball.”

“And…?”

“I can’t tell you. Otherwise I will be in trouble when we’ll face each other again in the future.”

“When, huh…?”

Kuroko took the ball and tried to shoot but he totally missed the basket.

“I don’t even know where I should begin commenting on this.” Aomine leaned towards him. “Show me how you shoot.”

“Why?” Kuroko’s look was quite suspicious.

“I’m teaching you some basics. I expect you to at least buy me a popsicle.”

“You are pretentious. Why do you think I’ll accept?”

“Because you suck at playing.” That hit Kuroko’s pride. “But you are unexpectedly good at stealing and passing, so you deserve some tips. Maybe you’ll entertain me even more in the future.”

Both of them smiled.

“What will be the school I have to wait for?”

“Seirin High.”

 

***

 

“Aomine-kun.”

“This time you haven’t caught me by surprise, Tet—”

Aomine turned his head to the left, but Kuroko was on his right. With his new high school uniform, he didn’t seem like a child as he was in middle school.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m going to school, isn’t that obvious?”

“You chose Seirin High too.” Kuroko looked at him: the way he was wearing his uniform wasn’t so appropriate: open jacket and under it a t-shirt instead of the shirt. “I saw a guy who is wearing the uniform as you do.”

“Who cares?”

“He signed for the basketball club.”

“You already signed up too, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Aomine-kun?”

“What?”

“Why are you holding onto my bag?”

“This way I won’t lose sight of you. This morning I saw you twice, but then you disappeared in a blink of an eye!” He growled.

“And why did you come to Seirin High?”

Aomine didn’t reply immediately. “All the schools are the same for me.”

“So you are still a boring person.”

“And you still have a mono-expression face.”

They looked at each other.

“I don’t know if we’ll get along, Tetsu.”

“Neither do I.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> In the end they'll get along. Trust me.


End file.
